8 Amazing Scenes From Zombie Film History

For a long term horror movie fan like myself, the recent mainstream love affair with zombie films is still surprising. How such a hyper-violent genre has become acceptable outside of hardcore horror fan circles is beyond me, but it warms the cockles of my black little heart to see zombies getting their time in the spotlight with larger audiences.

For those newer fans that have discovered their love of zombies through comic books and television shows like "The Walking Dead," there are many great moments in zombie films going back decades. I sometimes wish I could see a few of those movies again, as if it was the first time. One of the things about horror films in general, but especially about zombie movies, is that there are lots of standout scenes - notable because they're particularly scary, innovative, jaw-droppingly surprising, or so goofy that they entertain us. Here are some of my favorite scenes from zombie films of the past five decades or so.

8. The Tarman scenes ("The Return of the Living Dead" 1985)

This film is considered by many zombie fans as one of the best movies of the genre, and I have to agree. It mixes black comedy with horror, and while that mix doesn't work a lot of the time, it definitely does in this case. Pitting chemically reanimated zombies in a graveyard against a group of punk rockers and older guys in the nearby funeral home, "The Return of the Living Dead" is one consistently fun ride. This is also one of the first films with "fast zombies" and is the first where zombies specifically eat people's brains. Some of the better makeup effects are spent on "The Tarman", a disgusting skeletal melted fellow that enjoys a punk rock brain buffet before getting his block knocked off with a baseball bat. If you're a zombie movie fan and haven't seen this film yet, fix that situation as soon as possible.